BBC reveals shortlist for 2012 African Footballer of the Year

The five candidates for the BBC African Footballer of the Year 2012 award have been revealed. They are Ivory Coast’s Yaya Toure and Didier Drogba, Senegal’s Demba Ba, Morocco’s Younes Belhanda and Zambia’s Christopher Katongo.

Yaya Toure has been a key player for Manchester City as his team were crowned Premier League champions for the first time – and their first top-flight title for 44 years last season. This is his second consecutive year on the list.

Didier Drogba had a brilliant farewell to Chelsea at the end of the season after scoring the winning penalty to clinch the Champions League trophy for the first time in the club’s history, and also scoring what proved to be the winning goal in the FA Cup final

Younes Belhanda’s 12 goals and all-round performances were a huge factor as Montpellier pulled off a major surprise to win the French Ligue 1 championship.

Christopher Katongo led from the front for Zambia, skippering them to a shock victory in the Africa Cup of Nations, where Chipolopolo beat Ivory Coast on penalties in the final.

Demba Ba, despite Senegal’s outcome at the Nation’s Cup, enjoyed personal success with Newcastle where he ended last season as the club’s top scorer with 17 goals, helping them to finish fifth in the table.

The winner will be decided by African football fans, who have until 1830 GMT on Thursday, 13 December to vote for their choice.

You can either vote via BBC’s website or by sending an SMS from your phone to +44 7786 20 50 75:

Text 1 for Demba Ba

Text 2 for Younes Belhanda

Text 3 for Didier Drogba

Text 4 for Christopher Katongo

Text 5 for Yaya Toure

Standard international text rates apply, please check with your service provider. Texts are limited to one text per mobile phone number.